Cash incentives spur poor to buy healthier foods

San Diego-area participants got matching funds to buy produce from farmers ' markets

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, November 22, 2013 HealthDay News)-a recent program encouraged healthy eating by offering additional purchasing power to the poor people who receive government assistance to buy food. The only catch: they had to buy healthier types of food in markets.

It is not clear whether thousands of San Diego-area participants in federally funded programs actually became healthier because they bought foods that produce, meat and bread.

But in the big picture, "increased access to healthy foods," said San Diego County public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten, co-author of a new report on the results. "And it helps the market vendors and farmers."

Wooten said local public health officials launched the program with money from two federal grants--one from an anti-obesity Trust Fund in the Obama administration's stimulus package and the other from the affordable care Act Fund to combat chronic diseases.

The study was published in the Nov. 14 issue of preventing chronic disease, published by the u.s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Obesity is common in the United States among people of all income levels, but poor displays at particular risk. A study published a year ago showed that 5-year-old children living in the poorest neighborhoods were 28 percent more likely to be obese--a step above just being overweight--compared with children from the richest areas.

Research also suggests that the poor often live in "food deserts" where healthier foods that produce is hard to find and expensive when compared to fast food.

The new project, called farmers market fresh fund incentive program, ran from mid-2010 to 2011. It allowed people who get government food assistance food stamps to buy tokens for healthier foods--including produce, meat, bread and eggs--in local markets. They would receive tokens worth purchased amount plus a matching amount at no extra charge up to $ 10 per month.

In other words, students get $ 20 worth of tokens for healthier foods per month if they bought $ 10 worth.

Nearly 7,300 people enrolled in the program, said far more than the 3,000 that officials had expected, Wooten. Most (82 percent) had never been to a farmer's market before.

Among the people enrolled, attended 252 in investigations when you use the program and one year later. The percentage of those who said their diet was "healthy" or "very good" increased from 4 per cent to 63 per cent. In addition, 93 percent said the program was "important" or "very important" in their decision to shop at a farmers ' market.

The cost of managing the program were not available, but the extra food costs about $ 330,000, an average of $ 93 per student.

Switch to healthier eating can cost you more

After a wholesome diet goes about 1.50 more a day than junk food, study finds

By Brenda Goodman

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, 6 december, 2013 HealthDay News)-really does it cost more to stick to a healthy diet? The answer is Yes, but not as much as many people think, according to a new study.

Review research combined results of 27 studies from 10 different countries compared the cost of healthy and unhealthy diets.

The Verdict? A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish costs about one person about $ 1.50 more per day--or $ 550 per year--compared with a diet high in processed grains and meats, fats, sugar and convenience foods.

Big ran protein prices. The researchers found that healthy proteins--think part of skins and Boneless Skinless chicken breasts--29 cents more expensive per serving compared to less healthy sources, like a fried chicken nugget.

The study was published online december 5 in the journal BMJ open.

"For many low-income families, this can be a real obstacle to healthy eating habits," said study author Mayuree Rao. She is a junior research fellow in the Department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston.

A family of four who is after the USDA's thrifty eating plan, for example, has a weekly food budget of approximately $ 128. An additional $ 1.50 per for each person in the family a day adds up to $ 42 for the week, or about 30 percent of the family's total food tab.

Rao said that there would not be much of a difference for many middle-class families, though.

She said that "$ 1.50 is if the price of a cup of coffee and really just a drop in the bucket when you consider the billions of dollars spent each year on diet-related chronic diseases".

Researchers who were not involved in the review had good things to say about its conclusions.

"I think that an average difference in cost $ 1.50 per person per day is very significant," said Adam Drewnowski, Director of nutritional sciences program at the University of Washington, in Seattle. He has compared the cost of healthy versus unhealthy diets.

Drewnowski said that at an additional $ 550 per year for 200 million people would exceed the entire annual budget for food aid in the United States.

Dr. Hilary Seligman, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said healthy food can be expensive for the families in a way that goes beyond its cost at checkout. Therefore, she said, the strict cost comparison in this review, probably underestimate the true burden to a person's budget.

She points out, for example, that people in poor neighborhoods that lack large grocery stores may not be able to afford the gas to drive to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. They can work several jobs and don't have time to prep food from scratch.

Start healthier after buffet

First said three food items seen covers 66 percent of your total plate, researcher

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, November 21, 2013 HealthDay News)-to put healthier foods in the beginning of a buffet table can help diners pass more fattening foods, according to a new study.

The researchers found that when healthy foods is seen first, people are more likely to choose them and less likely to crave for higher-calorie foods that may be further down the buffet line.

"Every food is taken in part to determine what other foods that a person chooses," said the researchers. "In this way, triggering the first food a person chooses what they do next."

The study was published recently in the journal PLoS One, researchers two breakfast buffets 124 persons. In the first buffet met participants healthy food, like fruits, low-fat yogurt and low-fat granola, first. In the other was high-calorie foods, such as cheesy eggs, fried potatoes and bacon, at the beginning of the line.

The study showed that when healthy food was offered first, 86 percent of the Diners picked fruit. But when the more fattening foods was seen first, only 54 percent took the fruit. Similarly, when high-calorie foods were at the front of the buffet line, 75 percent of the participants chose the cheesy eggs, compared with 29 percent of those on line healthy buffet.

"The first three foods that a person was found in the buffet made up 66% of their total plate, regardless of whether the items were high or low-calorie foods," said behavioral Economist Brian Wansink, Cornell University, in a press release.

The order for food in a buffet played a role in what the participants chose to add his plate, said the researchers, who called this a "trigger effect."

"There is an easy take-aways for us: always start healthier after the buffet," Wansink said. "Two-thirds of the plate will be good stuff. "